Those who know our family know that the Grisham’s take the art of traveling very seriously. As our kids leave our home over the coming years and go out on their own, we want them to take with them great memories, and a lot of those memories revolve around the trips we’ve taken. We’ve always loved travel, but it’s only in the last few years that we’ve discovered travel hacking through credit cards. From time to time we have friends who ask us how they can get started, so this page is where I’ll be updating my favorite credit cards that I use for travel hacking.
For each of these cards I’m including a link where you can learn more and apply if you’d like. You can of course go to the bank’s website to apply, but if you use this link, you get the same amount of points, plus I’ll get some points as well. So thanks in advance if you choose to do that!
Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you’re just getting started in the travel hacking game and are wondering which credit card you should get, my top recommendation is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you sign up with this link and spend $4000 during your first three months of receiving your card, you will receive 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards. Beyond that, on most purchases you’ll receive 1 point per every dollar spent, but some purchases give you more. For example, you’ll receive 3 points per every dollar spent on groceries and dining out. There is a $95 annual fee with this card.
I should point out that I also love the Chase Freedom Unlimited card (link). There’s no annual fee, and you get $200 after spending $500 during your first three months. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve), though, you can turn those dollars into points, and the great thing about this card is that every purchase gives you at least 1.5 points, whereas the minimum on the Sapphire is 1 point. My recommendation therefore is for a person’s first two cards to the the Chase Sapphire Preferred and then the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Once you have 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, what can you spend them on? That’s the real question, right! You can book travel through the Chase Travel Portal. This is what we did when booking airfare to Switzerland. I go into details on how it works in that post. You can also transfer those points to partner airlines and hotel chains. My two favorites are Southwest and Hyatt. They transfer 1-to-1.
Here’s how you could do a hypothetical two night trip for two to Chicago. First, go to the Low Fare Calendar on the Southwest website. I’m selecting Memphis for the departure city and Chicago for the arrival city. May 6-8 looks promising. It’s only 8,909 points plus $5.60 in fees per person each way. And those are nonstop flights. So that brings us to 35,636 points out of our 60,000 Chase points. I next go to Hyatt’s website. I select Chicago, May 6-8, two guests, check “Use Points”, and select “Find Hotels.” I see that I can stay at the Hyatt Regency for 12,000 points per night. So that’s another 24,000 points. So 35,636 points for the flights and 24,000 for the hotel. That’s a total of 59,636 points. In order to book a trip like this, you would go into the Chase Ultimate Rewards site and transfer that many points into your Southwest and Hyatt accounts. And then you would book them using the steps above. And then you would enjoy your free travel!
Southwest
Speaking of Southwest, in my opinion the best travel hack is the Southwest Companion Pass. Whenever you fly on Southwest, your companion flies for free. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you are paying for your flight with cash or with points. How do you get the Companion Pass? As of this writing, you need to accumulate 125,000 points. The easiest way to do that is through the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards (link). The bonuses change throughout the year, and therefore the strategies change. Here’s an article that lays out a good strategy for the current promotion. The great thing is that once you accumulate that many points, you get the Companion Pass for the rest of that year, plus the entire next year. So back to the hypothetical trip to Chicago, instead of spending 35,636 Southwest points, I’d only be spending 17,818 thanks to the Companion Pass. I’m close to getting the Companion Pass for the remainder of 2022 plus 2023. It seems to be a little more challenging to get it right now than it was at the end of 2021, but I imagine they’ll have good promotions coming again in the future.
American Express Membership Rewards
Earlier this year I opened up an AMEX Gold Card so that I could begin accumulating AMEX Membership Rewards. If you sign up for the card (link) and then spend $4000 during the first six months after opening the account, you can get 60,000 AMEX Membership Rewards. What I like best about this card is that you get 4 points for every dollar you spend on groceries and dining out. That’s even better than the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I also get $10 each month to use on Uber or Uber Eats, plus an additional $10/month on Grubhub or a few other options. If you already use these services, it definitely helps to offset the $250 annual fee.
Chase Business Cards
The Chase Ink Business cards (link) are pretty fantastic. The Ink Business Preferred has a large bonus, but what I really like is the Ink Business Cash card. There’s no annual fee, and you get back 5% from office supplies stores like Office Depot. I purchase Amazon gift cards there, load them to my Amazon account, and make my purchases from the gift card instead of from another credit card. That means that if I spend $100 on Amazon.com, instead of getting 100 points from a normal credit card, I get 500 points from purchasing the gift card from Office Depot. With as much shopping as we do on Amazon.com, the points really add up.
Mandy and I have settled on trying to get 2-3 new credit cards (and bonuses) each year. I know people who go after more than this, but this seems to work out well for us. It’s a bit of work tracking the different points programs, but it’s worth it for the free travel we get each year. I use a Google Spreadsheet, but Award Wallet and the Points Guy app are also solid choices.
Finally, a word of caution…Travel hacking with credit cards only works when you stick to a budget and when you pay off your entire balance each month. If you are paying interest and late fees, it’s simply not worth it. Further, if you have trouble sticking to a budget, I don’t recommend it. Credit card debt more than just about anything else prevents us from building wealth, so make sure that you have a plan and are sticking to it.